(CNN) - Ron Paul is no fan of Gov. Rick Perry, but the three-time presidential candidate is coming to the side of his fellow Lone Star State Republican.

A grand jury indicted the Texas governor Friday on two felony counts involving abuse of power, stemming from his veto of funding for a statewide public integrity unit run by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat.

Some on the right view the indictment as a blatant political ploy.

"This is pure politics, I tell ya. This is really a joke," Paul told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Monday.

The former Texas congressman made sure to mention that he doesn't "generally defend our governor very much," saying Perry's record on civil liberties and foreign policy is "a disaster."

But in this case, he added, "the abuse of power comes more from the DA's office than the governor's office."

The case centers on Perry's June 2013 veto of the $7.5 million budget for the unit run by Lehmberg after she refused his demand to resign following her drunken driving arrest and conviction.

Perry faces accusations of coercion of a public servant and abuse of his official capacity, but he said he has no regrets about his decision and vowed to fight the indictment.

Paul, who ran against Perry and several others for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, also addressed the growing national debate over the militarization of police forces, brought to light by the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri.

"Police are supposed to be local people, they're supposed to be peace officers," Paul told Mitchell. "They're not supposed to be warriors."

Paul did not speak about his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who is considering a presidential run in 2016 and who penned an opinion piece last week with similar thoughts about the militarization of police forces.

soundoff(36 Responses)

SOUTHERN SNOTTIE

Democrats remind me of the monkeys I used to see at the zoo when I was younger. This was back in the olden days when they were in small, fully enclosed cages because they used to fling their crap at the people. Well, that's what this is. More Democrat monkeys flinging crap. And these are the people you want running the government? Keep your head down America!

August 18, 2014 05:08 pm at 5:08 pm |

just asking

so lefties, now that you've spent tens of millions of taxpayers dollars in nj on your ridiculous 'investigations', where's the beef?! you still got nothing, nada, zip, zilch! they don't care, it isn't their money.

August 18, 2014 05:11 pm at 5:11 pm |

Pander Bear

List of GOP "joke" investigations:
Rick Perry veto abuse of power

List of GOP completely "legitimate" investigations:
Obama's citizenship/birth certificate (months of nothing)
Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi (months of nothing)
IRS "scandal" (months of nothing)
House suing President for use of Presidential Powers (oh please)
Claiming the President is "not enforcing the law" regarding immigration when it's been show that's exactly what he's doing

Yeah, none of those "legitimate" investigations is politically motivated at all. THE GOP is a joke.

August 18, 2014 05:15 pm at 5:15 pm |

tom l

ProudDem

Hmm....so Perry vetoing funds for a whole department because an elected official did not resign when he told her to is ok because that's his authority....but the President using executive actions to delay a tax penalty in Obamacare at the request of the IRS that the IRS already had the authority to do by statute is a huge overreach worthy of being sued. Makes perfect sense.

=====

I'd agree with you that on both counts there is no case and each lawsuit should be thrown out. I am pretty sure where we differ is that you think that the Perry suit perfectly legitimate and the Obama one is not. Ahhhh, if only your party was what you thought it was rather than what it really is (and I will say the same about repubs).

August 18, 2014 05:22 pm at 5:22 pm |

srf

If Ron Paul speaks for the majority why didn't he ever come close to being elected President.

August 18, 2014 05:23 pm at 5:23 pm |

Jeff Brown in Jersey

@just asking
so lefties, now that you've spent tens of millions of taxpayers dollars in nj on your ridiculous 'investigations', where's the beef?! you still got nothing, nada, zip, zilch! they don't care, it isn't their money.

Tell that to Darrell "Career Criminal" Issa

August 18, 2014 05:25 pm at 5:25 pm |

Rusty Krus

@just asking
so lefties, now that you've spent tens of millions of taxpayers dollars in nj on your ridiculous 'investigations', where's the beef?! you still got nothing, nada, zip, zilch! they don't care, it isn't their money.

Uh, er, actually we have an indictment!

August 18, 2014 05:26 pm at 5:26 pm |

Jayson

Still waiting for the indictment of Rosemary Lehmberg for her attempts to coerce police officers when she was being booked